Does this Gaming PC Build Look Good?

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robotsneedhugs2

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Mar 22, 2013
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  • ■ Approximate Purchase Date: August 23
    ■ Budget Range: 800-1000
    ■ System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming mostly
    ■ Are you buying a monitor: No
    ■ Parts to Upgrade: CPU, Mobo, RAM, GPU. I have a Corsair HX750 PSU.
    ■ Do you need to buy OS: No
    ■ Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon, others if significantly cheaper
    ■ Location: Kalamazoo, MI, USA
    ■ Parts Preferences: Going back and forth between Intel and AMD. Nvidia GPU only.
    ■ Overclocking: Maybe in the future. Not too important.
    ■ SLI or Crossfire: No
    ■ Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

    ■ Additional Comments: I already have a Case, PSU, DVD Drive, KB+Mouse, and OS
    ■ And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My PC is 7 years old and dying a slow and painful death.
    ■ I want to play games like Skyrim, GTA IV, maybe BF3, etc on this at fairly high settings
---

Here's what I'm looking at. Researched for a while, used Logical Increments as a baseline... What I want is a kickass gaming PC, but obviously, the cheaper, the better. I need ways to bring the price down without sacrificing too much performance, especially in the long run.

What I was thinking was buying the main components now and getting other things later. For example, I already have a HDD that I could repurpose for this build, and then buy the SSD and just copy the OS partition to the SSD in a couple months. I was also looking at buying one 4GB stick of RAM now and the other later. It seems difficult to find a good single 4GB stick, though, so I might be better off just getting the whole 8GB now.

Let me know where I can improve this or bring the price down a little bit.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($193.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.70 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($126.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $933.65
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-18 08:46 EDT-0400)
 
Solution
Onus
It does look good, but you can shave some cost by going for a H87 mobo instead of Z87; since you're getting a locked CPU, you can forgo the overclocking features of Z87.
Also, you've specified "fairly high settings," and a GTX770 should be able to play on "UltraMaxOhWOW!" settings. A GTX760 should be good for high-to-ultra settings. If you can comfortably afford the GTX770, get it, but if not, you'll still meet your stated goals with the lesser card.
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
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It does look good, but you can shave some cost by going for a H87 mobo instead of Z87; since you're getting a locked CPU, you can forgo the overclocking features of Z87.
Also, you've specified "fairly high settings," and a GTX770 should be able to play on "UltraMaxOhWOW!" settings. A GTX760 should be good for high-to-ultra settings. If you can comfortably afford the GTX770, get it, but if not, you'll still meet your stated goals with the lesser card.
 
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Solution
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robotsneedhugs2

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Mar 22, 2013
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I actually have a new case; I just threw my old components in it for the time being (for the lulz).
 
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Thanatos Telos

Thanatos Telos

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Mar 8, 2013
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Ah, okay. lulzworthy it is.
 
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robotsneedhugs2

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Mar 22, 2013
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Would it be worth it to get an unlocked 4670K so that I can OC in a few years to squeeze some more life out of it?
 
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Onus

Onus

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Jan 27, 2006
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It seems to me that not since older S775 and S939 (and maybe AM2) systems does overclocking really extend the viable life of a CPU. I think it will be quite some time before modern CPUs become too weak, and they may become weak for reasons that wouldn't be helped by overclocking anyway, like not having enough threads.
I'm not being critical at all, but some people REALLY enjoy the overclocking, playing as much or more with their PCs as they do on their PCs. If that might be you, then by all means buy all overclocking parts. If you're more on my end of the spectrum (I overclock, mildly, simply because I can, but I'm not an endless tweaker) and plan to play on your PC, you can save the money and not feel any regrets.
 
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robotsneedhugs2

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Mar 22, 2013
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I'm not too into overclocking. I'd rather keep it at stock speeds than risk frying it. I'll stick with the locked CPU. Thank you for your insight.
 
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robotsneedhugs2

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Mar 22, 2013
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How's this? Removed the unlocking MB and I'll buy the SSD later.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($193.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($94.50 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.70 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $763.17
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-18 09:12 EDT-0400)
 
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
37,037
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89,965
Looks good. If you can afford it, get the SSD now though; they make such a big difference in overall response (though not in FPS in games), that I can't imagine building a system for myself any more without a SSD.
The one you had selected previously, the 840 PRO, is an excellent choice.
 
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robotsneedhugs2

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Mar 22, 2013
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The SSD will have to wait until Xmas. Perhaps Black Friday if there's a good deal. I'm fine dealing with a HDD for a couple months. Besides, doing it like this, I'll get a double-jump(!) in performance, first with the new PC, then adding a SSD to it.
 
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
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89,965
Ok then. I'd recommend partitioning your HDD though. Allocate 111GB for C: (that's the space you typically get from a formatted 128GB SSD).
Then, when you get the SSD, you'll just clone that partition onto it (you may then need to take steps to make sure TRIM is enabled; otherwise nvm the partition and just plan on reloading your OS). You can leave the old partition on the HDD as a backup, or blow it away and add its space to your data partition.
 
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robotsneedhugs2

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Mar 22, 2013
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If the partition is slightly smaller than the formatted size of the SSD, I can enlarge it without problems, right? For example, just to be safe, could I format it as 110GB, then increase it to the size of the SSD when I transfer it?
 
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